Are aesthetics all that matter in the food game?

Do we even care about taste anymore?

In a world where at least one person at the dinner table is taking a photo of their plate, I have to ask, do we actually care about the food going in our mouths or is it all about the gram?

I am the marketing manager for my father’s new restaurant. He is 74 years old and came out of retirement to have one last crack at building his dream restaurant. This is his eighth restaurant and after spending the last 6 years making wine, going fishing, tending to his bees and pruning olive trees, he decided that he wasn't quite ready to give up on serving the perfect souvlaki.

At the time of writing this, the doors of his restaurant have been open for one week. He took over an existing restaurant, so all that was required was to rebrand, rearrange and hire new staff. For my Dad, if the place is clean and well looked after then it’s good to go. He’s not about to hire an interior designer to refit, it’s just not his style. For my Dad, food is the most important part. He’s old school and he’s been running in the restaurant game well before the prawn cocktail was even invented.

Knowing this about my father, I set out to create an Instagram profile for the restaurant that focused more on the ‘Greek vibe’ and on him- Chef George, the 74 years young chef who accidentally migrated to Australia 40 years ago from Greece after the ship he was working on left port early.

The account has had good organic growth and good engagement, so I was feeling pretty pleased with myself, that is until I received this DM today.

“Hi guys, all the best on the new business. Just wanted to mention, your hash tags say Greek islands Meganisi which means large island and Lefkada which is also an island. Previous insta images are sea breeze feel and images of traditional Greek island like images with seafood etc. Unfortunately this particular image surprised me as it doesn’t give the same vibe or feel. Just wondering as its misleading. Dark and not welcome like an old 80’s Greek Tavern.”

The image she is referring, which is apparently dark and misleading, is this one-

She goes on

“Is the restaurant inside normally going to look like this or is this a separate function area? Wanted to come try it but having second thoughts as it's not what I expected”

She then continued to school me on other Greek restaurants that I should look at to gain inspiration to re-decorate our space. So not only was she educating me on the name of our restaurant (named after the island in Greece that my family is from and which I currently live on) she was suggesting that we re-decorate our “80’s style” taverna, even though she has not actually seen it.

Our Instagram page is a mix of photos from our island, photos of my Dad fishing and videos of him in the garden. I never at any stage said our restaurant was white and blue and was set on a beach. Frankly to assume Greek things can only be white and blue is pretty naive. Anyway, slowly as we get more images from the restaurant (it’s only been open a week) we will put them onto our page, but these things take time, also my dad isn’t great at taking photos.

Now, perhaps I am being overly emotional about this, but to say I was offended was an understatement. I had started the reply something along the lines of…

“How dare you stumble into our DMS and offer such nasty and unsolicited advice. My Dad is 74 dammit, if he wants to open a restaurant and cook glorious food then he will do it in any way he sees fit, whether its in a shed or an “80’s style” taverna.”

Obviously, I quickly deleted my emotional vomit and responded with this…

“Thanks for the feedback, Sharon (not her real name). We are from Meganisi which is an island off the coast of Lefkada. Our cuisine is inspired by the dishes from the island and also features all the traditional dishes you expect to find on a Greek menu. The restaurant itself is not white and blue, so if you’re looking for this theme then perhaps it’s not for you. We have worked really hard to bring our restaurant to life and our chef and owner, George, has come out of retirement to continue his dream of cooking amazing Greek food, so sorry that you feel like it’s like an 80’s, old taverna and that you won't be coming to visit us to try his food.”

My Dad.

I have to admit, I really was a bit shocked to get this message. I kind of half expected that we would struggle with the millennials because my Dad does not plate food like he’s on Masterchef- he plates like he's feeding a family, so I knew we wouldn't be instagrammy. But this woman is not a millennial. So it got me thinking, is it too late for anyone that doesn't play in the game of aesthetics?

There used to be a lot of appeal in finding the back-alley restaurants that offer delicious food for great prices, even if they were ugly as hell and had terrible service. Now it seems that restaurants are spending loads of cash to make their space look like a back alley and charging a premium fee for this alley experience.

I recently contracted to the newly opened W Hotel in Costa Rica to help their marketing team and most of the conversations we had were around having an ‘instagrammy space’ at each event and ensuring that the kitchen and bar were producing food and drinks that would stand out on the explore page.

So, when Instagram and Facebook crash again (which we all know they will) will aesthetics still matter? I mean, do we care what it looks like if we can’t share the snap?

I’d love to hear your thoughts. Would you go to a restaurant based on their food or do you need the decor to match? What about the story behind the restaurant?

Want to visit George? www.tavernameganisi.com.au

Happy eating!